2012 Storm Chase 2 - February 28th - Meanwhile, On The Other Side Of The Hill

I hadn't planned on chasing storms on this particular Tuesday, February the 28th, but somehow it just worked out that way.  I was indeed hoping that something would have happened the day before, but we were still in warm air advection mode, which is not a good place to be on the Western Slope in the late winter if you want convection.  It's simply too warm aloft.  Well, the cold front passed overnight and brought rain to the valleys, which was nice.  However, in the late afternoon as the upper level low was moving through, lapse rates increased dramatically.  Convection began to fire up around the area, complete with lightning strikes.  I left home and went in to work to consult with my colleague Eddie and take a closer look at the data from my work computers.  Here was the general setup:

SPC actually had is in a categorical risk for thunderstorms on that day.  20Z Outlook

As we were sitting there, strong convection began to develop along the northernmost edge of the Uncompahgre Plateau, just south of I-70.  There seemed to be some sort of line of convergence there, perhaps minor troughing in the ULL.  Suddenly, the radar lit up with lightning strikes and even a 0.25" hail marker.  I was quickly on the road and headed northwest.

I planned to head up to I-70 to do a little minesweeping of the core as they passed over the populated portions of the valley near Fruita.  As I reached I-70, however, I looked back to the east to see something that looked a lot more dramatic than it actually was. 

Keep in mind, the view is looking east.  Mid-level inflow to the convection was coming in from the northwest, however, so the bases of the storms were in fact on the north sides of their respective downdrafts.  After a brief photo-op, I got on 70 and headed west to the next exit, then dropped onto US 6/50 which parallels the interstate so that I could have more mobility.

I cored the first cell just to the southeast of Fruita and for the first time in a long, long time, I heard hail on the windshield.  What a glorious sound!

I'm not sure if I have shared my hail scale before, so here it goes:

Tinks - 0.25" to 0.5"
Dinks - 0.5"+ to 1"
Donks - 1"+ to 2"
Bonks - 2+ to 3"
Gonks - 3"+

These were certainly tinks.  In fact, after the first, initial blast of hail, it became soft very fast and definitely more into grauple territory.  I stopped in a pull-out and opened the window, turning the inside of the vehicle into a popcorn machine.  Then, I got out and experienced the core. 

(mobile phone image)

After the initial wave passed through, most of the activity began to fade.  A burst of convection occurred the north, over the desert and I headed toward that initially, but I realized I wasn't going to catch it before it reached the Book Cliffs, so I turned back and decided to re-immerse myself in weaker convection firing along the original line back to the west of Fruita.

Just east of Loma, I got into a nice rain/snow shower with grauple mixed in and found a nice place to stop and enjoy the precip.  It turned out to be reasonably photogenic too. 

As the storm passed, the sun tried to come out a bit.  This led to a grauplebow.  Boom.

After it cleared, I decided to head north and look for a good position to take advantage of the lighting conditions.  I knew that sunset would soon be approaching, so I explored a bit to find and area worth shooting.

Finally, in full sun, the back side of the departing storms looked absolutely stellar.  There's something about winter convection that is unique and very pleasing to the eye. 

Looking northeast from 16Rd

And due east...

East-southeast...

As I reached the periphery of the desert, the Book Cliffs looked fantastic and weak convection was firing off to my northwest again.

Waves break on the Book Cliffs, freshly painted with grauple and snow.

Weak convection north in the desert.

Looking northwest into Utah

Golden hour.

For the actual sunset, I headed back to Loma and stopped just south of the interstate.  A weak shower moving over the Grand Valley turned with the setting sun's light.

And the clouds out east looked pretty nice too...

Convection died off with the setting of the sun, so I stopped back at work for a moment before heading home.  Meanwhile in Nebraska, good friends were chasing tornadoes.  But for me, it felt absolutely fantastic to get out and chase something worth chasing.

One crazy note from the day:  The moment I left the station, the lightning stopped.  I did not see lightning nor did I hear thunder.  I swear, though, before I left, it was lit up!  Guess I'll have to wait a while longer for my annual viewing of "Twister".  For those not in the know, I always watch that terribly awesome movie every year after the first time I hear thunder.

Oh yeah, and my good buddies Scott Hammel and Eric Treece spent their day chasing the first tornadoes ever to be recorded in Nebraska in the month of February.  

Detail Map:

STATS
Mileage: 57
2012YTD Mileage: 79
States: Colorado
SPC Risk: Categorical
Max Hail: 0.25"
Tornadoes: None
Other Phenomena:  Grauplebow
Applicable Mesoscale Discussions: None
Applicable Weather Watches: None
Storm Reports for February 28th

Other Chasers' Reports:
- Scott Hammel - Stapleton Nebraska Tornadoes


Dann.

2011 - July 7th - Piñon Mesa, Grand Mesa National Forest (Fruita Division)

The Uncompahgre Plateau is cut east to west by the Unaweep Canyon. North of the canyon is a raised area known as Piñon Mesa. From the valleys east or west, the grade is rather gradual, so it is surprising that the flat-topped and broad mesa tops out over 9,700ft. In fact, it is almost as tall as the Grand Mesa, the much more remarkable feature which lies to the east of the Grand Valley.

At about 8,700ft, the forest changes over from Piñon-Juniper to a mix of Quaking Aspen, Douglas fir (I presume) with a some oak scrub mixed in.

I had been wanting to explore the Piñon Mesa area and its various reservoirs for a while. While the valleys were baking in the mid-90s and I was looking to escape to some place cooler. I recruited my friend Shannon for a nice high-altitude adventure and we hit the road early in the morning to best avoid the heat.

The Fruita Division of the Grand Mesa National Forest can be reached via Glade Park, southwest of Grand Junction. We took S 16 1/2 Road south from the Glade Park Store as it slowly gained elevation and transitioned to gravel into the Piñon-Juniper.

At about 8,600ft, the road breaks out into broad meadows. As we approached the forest service boundary, the meadows began to take on a very bright color. It was only about 8:30AM and though there were a few high clouds, it was a gorgeous morning.  And the wildflowers, well, they were fantastic. 

We stepped out of the vehicle for ten minutes or so to enjoy the surroundings... and avoid the bumble bees.

We weren't quite at the trail head, however, so we got back in the vehicle and continued on. We planned to hike from Fruita Reservoir No. 1 across the crest of the Mesa and down to Black Pine Reservoir on the other side, roughly five miles round-trip with 400ft of gain on the way to the top and 300ft on the way back up from the other side.

The trail starts pretty close to the Fruita Reservoir No. 1 (not pictured) which was a little stinky and filled with algae.  Swarms of insects also loudly hovered near the water.  From what I understand, the reservoirs were initially intended to provide water to Fruita but a pipeline that would have gone through the Colorado National Monument either was rejected or an existing one was not allowed to be repaired.

The trail continues south along the length of the west side of the reservoir.  We were briefly distracted by strange noises from the nearby forest.  Initially, I thought it might be a turkey, but I eventually discovered it was a raven.

The trail climbs west up a drainage south of the reservoir.  I got a little winded thanks to the elevation and was also on spider-web patrol, using my face to break through any rogue strands that crossed the trail.  As we neared the top, I spotted a nice columbine along the trail. 

At the top of the mesa is a beautiful grove of old aspen.  We lingered for a while, enjoying the sun which filtered through the leaves.

Oh, and I found a caterpillar too.  I'm not sure what it was destined to become, but I posed with it for a moment. 

After starting to descend the other side, I noticed that the trail had become a stream and I think both of us were not necessarily looking forward to hiking down and then back up again, so after hanging out in the aspen grove for a while, we returned the mile and a half to the trail head, satisfied with what we had accomplished.

Back in the car, we stopped once more near the boundary for wildflower photos...

Shannon hadn't taken the entire drive through the Colorado National Monument yet, so we decided to head through and exit near Fruita.  Here are a few bonus photos of Independence Monument:

Once in Fruita, we stopped in the Hot Tomato for a pizza.  We had the Vortex Pizza.  The name sold me but it was absolutely delicious too.  Added bonus!

Though it was a rather short hike, I found it to be a fantastic way to escape the summer heat and enjoy a morning outdoors.

Map:

Dann.